The Most Successful Baseball Players To Wear The Number 23

If you’re a MLB baseball fan and are interested in learning about the impressive professional MLB careers of the top players to don the number 23, simply continue reading.

Baseball 23: The most successful baseball players to wear the number 23

Donn Mattingly:

Donn Mattingly was an MLB player from 1982 to 1995. One of Mattingly’s career highlights was being named an American League MVP in 1985. Mattingly also managed to get selected for the MLB All Star team on 6 seperate occasions. Which spanned from 1984 to 1989. Which was arguably the peak of Mattingly’s very succesful MLB career. How many home runs did Mattingly hit during his career?

Mattingly hit exactly 222 home runs during his professional MLB career. One unique ability which Mattingly had, was that he was able to pitch from his left hand and his right hand as he was ambidextrous. A talent which convinced the New York Yankees’ to sign Mattingly in 1982. Mattingly continued to play for the New York Yankees until he retired in 1995. At which point the Yankees decided to retire his jersey number, number 23.

Although it has been decades since Mattingly played in the MLB he has since coached and managed teams in the MLB. So far Mattingly has coached the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Miami Marlins and has managed the New York Yankees and the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Ryne Sandberg:

Ryne Sandberg was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2005. Some of his career highlights include being named a National League MVP in 1984 and being selected as an MLB All Star on 10 seperate occasions. Which spanned from 1984-1993. During his career Sandberg hit 282 home runs. In total Sandberg’s career lasted 16 years. During which time Sandberg played for the Philadelphia Phillies and the Chicago Cubs.

Sandberg was contracted to the Chicago Cubs from 1984 to 1997. In order to honor Sandberg’s career with the Chicago Cubs, the owners of the club decided to permanently retire the number 23. Which Sandberg wore on the back of his jersey, during his time with the Chicago Cubs.

Zack Greinke:

Zack Greinke made his MLB debut in 2004 and currently plays for the Arizona Diamondbacks. To date Greinke has been been selected as an MLB All Star on five seperate occasions, which range from 2009 to 2018. Another of Greinke’s career highlights so far was being awarded the 2009 American League Cy Young award. Which is awarded to up and coming MLB players who have a lot of raw talent and who are expected to achieve great success throughout their careers.

As Greinke has yet to retire from MLB baseball, his number is yet to be retired. However, if his career continues on it’s current trajectory, there is a chance that Greinke will have his jersey number retired by the Arizona Diamondbacks.

So if you’re interested in baseball history and facts, hopefully you found learning about the careers of Zack Greinke, Don Mattingly and Ryne Sandberg interesting. As all three men have one thing in common, they were all successful baseball players who wore number 23 on the back of their jerseys.